Judge to rule on white voters' claims soon

BATON ROUGE- A federal judge will decide in the next three weeks if a group of white voters in Iberville Parish had their voting rights violated.

All sides were in court Monday, as closing arguments in the contentious case were presented before Judge Brian Jackson. The group of white voters sued the City of St. Gabriel claiming they have no representation on the town council since all council members are black.

The white residents want the town to do away with the "at large" voting system where the top candidates automatically get elected. Instead, they want at least one council district to be drawn to have better representation in their area.

"There's only been one white person ever elected to any municipal office in the history of St. Gabriel," Attorney for the white residents, Dannie Garrett said.

However, last week Garrett could not give any examples where the black city council didn't work on behalf of the white residents.

The attorney representing the city said with respect to voting rights, whites can't prove there has been any discrimination.